


Choose Before The End

by MischiefHowl



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, just give this bird boy love already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 05:18:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8388784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MischiefHowl/pseuds/MischiefHowl
Summary: Instead of Valerie Vale, Oswald finds himself with Leslie Thompkins in the clutches of the mad Jervis Tetch. And the choice is Jim's on who lives and who dies.. and Oswald knows the obvious choice. (AU Spoilers for 03x06)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This contains spoilers for 03x06. If you have yet to watch this episode I suggest you don't read on. 
> 
> Well here is my first Nygmobblepot fic. I hope you all enjoy the reading. It is good to get back to writing about our dear Oswald again. 
> 
> Fun fact: I had to redo Jervis' name badly cause I thought of Jarvis from Iron Man and thought his last name was spelled Thatch. Goes to show I fail at spelling, pronunciation and haven't read the comics..

Life is full of tough choices Oswald had long ago realized. 

But what led him here, tied to a chair across from the woman named Lee. And seeing the man he heard about from the news... Jervis Thetch if he recalled right. What led them to this moment.. what had gotten him caught so easily..?   
He was the Mayor of Gotham and the Kingpin, yet here he was tied up like any common man that did something wrong.. He can only remember being suddenly grabbed and dragged off the sidewalk while on his daily stroll and thrown roughly into a van. How no one saw was beyond him. All he know was he was here and he was very irritated. Next time he will have his guard fully up..

"Would you kindly loosen the bonds on my leg, it is very uncomfortable" Oswald spoke without a care, adding obvious annoyance to it. His twisted leg didn't like it at all and was aching already.

"Don't worry, my feathered friend. If Gordon chooses right than you can go free.."

Gordon? His eyes couldn't help but light up at that. Jim Gordon and he was sure Lee saw the way his face seemed to light up even the tiniest bit. She on the other hand was not pleased and didn't throw out any words just her thinking of possible ways to escape.

"Jim.. he's part of your game? All because of your sister"

"Ooh yes, my dearest Alice. My love who he murdered!"

"Huh.. last time I heard, she killed herself.. Guess the news can be deceiving" Crazies in Gotham, can it get any worse. Jervis oddly donned the Mad Hatter look well and he was really a mad man. 

"I do wonder if he will ask your dear Cheshire Cat and bring him into this." The voice was eerily calm, challenging.

"Ches-" He thought about the character. The riddles.. his heart skipped a beat without the intention and the anger bubbled. "You leave him out of this game!" He didn't mean to show so much emotion but there it was, the anger and worry that they'd wheel his possible one-sided love in, beaten and broken- No no. "I will kill you, you lowly freak!" Oswald gritted his teeth and showed the yellow of them like some caged animal.

Lee frowns at Oswald's reaction. But if she had something on her mind she kept quiet. So this man had Oswald's weakness. But she was fiancee to a Falcone, and knew hell will rain upon him if he harmed her.. to bad it didn't really make her feel any better.

"Thetch let them go now" Came a voice that all the people in the room turned to, the powerful voice that Oswald loved, the concern in it that Lee caught and at one time was pleased to her. The weakness in it that Thetch would bring forth.

\--

The game was simple. Much to the hostages horror. The one he loved most gets spared while the other gets shot. Oswald's heart sank and he knew the game was over. He had gone over months and months of feeling love for Jim but not once was it returned. It was all favors and playing on his good side... how many nights did the great man crumble in his bed and cry silently to sleep of an aching heart. His Jim.. that would never love him back, that never would feel anything for him.

The truth was sealed when in Arkham his pleas and begging to be saved were ignored. He wanted to die then, just die and stop the never ending pain. His mother, his father, dead.. his friend Butch had plotted to kill him in front of many, nearly losing Ed who saved his life, and Jim who he wanted to love but gave up when he began to feel for Ed.. what if Ed rejected him fully? Even hated him and left without a care...? His heart was broken to many times to take another rejection.. Maybe it was better this way. To die. Be killed. The city would hunt Thetch down and burn him alive in City Hall.

Jim had sat down and sipped the tea. Oswald and Lee's bonds on their wrists were released so they can drink the tea, which Oswald sipped to, uncaring now if it was poisoned. May as well be a nice guest. He was wondering if Lee thought the same about him. Surely she thought so. 

She would be chosen and Falcone will have one less threat to deal with. It annoyed him now. How dare she marry into the Falcones, it disgusted him. He swore this was to get back at Jim in some way.. but love was funny that way... or was there a deeper plot? Using her to get to Jim? He couldn't just accept it was random love. Everything is about him or James Gordon, it always was. Paranoid or not he was usually always right..

The words exchanged were so far that he didn't know what was going on until Thetch had the gun at Jim's head and the sound of a gun cocking- "No!" He cried out before he could stop himself. "No! Kill me! Not him!" He broke.. Lee looked at him with some disbelief. "He is needed! He's the hero Gotham needs!" There it was. The truth right out of his pathetic mouth, his snitching tongue telling only truth. Jim was the hero Gotham needs if it stands any chance to be great again. "He is needed..."

"Oswald-" Jim tried to stop him from speaking but Thetch had his attention on the bird-man now. To late..

Oswald had the spotlight and he took it. "So what if he killed your sister. Boo hoo! You are a monster she would've died to get away from!" "Shut up!" Jervis ordered but Oswald kept going. "I'm happy she is free from you, from the cursed blood! If there was a way I would've gladly helped her get far away from you to!" "Oswald!" Jim's voice but he kept going even with the gun in his cheek, pressing painfully against it with cold steel. It wouldn't probably kill him at this angle but he was sure he'd be in so much agony.

"Choose Jim! Choose now or I will kill them both, beginning with the Dodo!" 

"Penguin" He grumbled out his correction.

Jim looked at Penguin and shook his head. "I choose Lee"

And there it was. The betrayal. It was there again and Jim looked uncaring at Oswald. It was heart breaking to know it was true, that this was the final tie. It was simple thinking really. He loved Lee and hated Penguin. He wanted to cover up the times the man lied for him, did favors for him, he wanted it to die with the former snitch and also to rid Gotham of a dangerous man, mayor or not. His thoughts went back to Ed probably waiting and worrying about where he'd gone. Would Jim even break the news to Ed? Would Ed weep... please if there was any God that would still listen to a prayer of a awful man. Please don't let him weep, please don't hurt him the way the world had hurt this former snitch. He heard the gun.. he didn't feel the shot. He should've but his mind seemed to have went into itself to register what is going on. 

Oswald Cobblepot had come face to face with death so many times he had at times thought he was cursed to always be alive no matter what. Looks like his nine lives finally ran out. Soon he'll see his mother and father again... maybe. He pleaded again to at least see them for a few seconds before descending to his final destination.. His love for Ed would be unnoticed. Go unspoken.. his one regret. Maybe he should've told him that day.. told him instead of shying away like some little child. Maybe he should've confessed to Jim so long ago that he loved him to. If he were rejected so be it.. If by both at least here he would welcome death openly.

Blood stained his suit and he frowned. Ed would not be happy about that.. his Ed, his Man of Riddles. and Jim, the Savior of Gotham. He hoped he will make it better. He was tired.. tired of it all. Time seemed to have stopped.. it is always said to stop before one's death. You have all the time in the world but also no time at all. A mercy to think about things quickly, to take in where you are, to admire the beauty of the room and the people in it. How he wished he died outside though.. he was a bird. He was meant to see the sky before the final darkness. He was meant to fly no matter how much he was named Penguin. He was going to fly he hoped.. can his sins be forgiven.. or will his wings be torn before he has a chance to spread them?

He heard the sirens and saw in slow motion Harvey and Barnes rush in. Jim was at Lee's side. Was death supposed to be this slow...?

And than he saw it- and suddenly time began to speed up. Lee was staring unseeing with shock on her face at Oswald. Why was she looking at him like that? The blood was the next he saw and he swore it was his at first.. but the blood that stained her clothes darkening proved to his horror otherwise. And he uttered the stupidest words he ever could. ".. Is she okay?" He was dumbfounded. What'd he miss? Who did Jim choose? It must have been her. Always her. 

"Harvey get the mayor somewhere safe!" Harvey said something sassy but he couldn't catch it as he put his hands up quickly. "No- No- I have to stay here! Lee are you alright?!" He couldn't help it. He was being stupid and scared and lastly confused at the fact.

 

\---  
Edward was at the hospital in no time after receiving the call from a shaken Oswald who was checked and was still in a bit of shock but had said over and over to call Nygma. Lee was shot in the stomach and he sat with Jim, and after a few cusses and pushes did he succumb to the Mayor's hold. The arms that were abnormally strong for such a small man. The two hugged tightly until Ed arrived.

"I'm alright, Ed.. I got your suit dirty.." He frowns as he looks down the hall towards the Emergency Room, guilt filling him slowly like water. "He chose Lee.. but that- that damned freak thought-"  
"No" Jim whispered, breaking Oswald's tiny bit of focus. "I didn't choose Lee... I chose you.."

Os and Ed's mouths nearly dropped to the floor.

"I thought choosing you would confuse him.. would give us a distraction.." He didn't bother looking up to know the eyes of the angry Nygma and the confusion and still hurt eyes of Cobblepot. "I wanted to somehow save you both. But again I chose wrong.. I guess I thought if I chose you as well you can forgive me for not believing you back at Arkham."

"Jim. I forgave you long ago. If I didn't I wouldn't have saved you from Galavan. Twice if I recall." He put a hand on Ed's chest to calm him. "I was more than ready to die for the sake of the city.. you are very much needed in this city. You're a good man, James Gordon, and I know you will save this city.." He looks back at the room and sighs. "She is a strong woman. If the Falcones so much as look at you wrong you tell me and I will put them in their place" He didn't want to know the outcome. He knew Lee was a strong woman. She will pull through.. this was nothing to her he hoped. "Let's go Ed.."

 

\--

The dinner was good and almost really like a welcoming dinner. Never before had he enjoyed and savored the taste as much as he did with each bite. And he looks at Ed with a soft smile. He will tell him, because after all he knows, tonight was his last night to confess. He lost his chance with James and he prayed silently that the man finds happiness somewhere and keeps it close.  
It was by the fire, on the floor while Ed was reading did Oswald finally get up all of his courage that he had in his little body. "Edward I've something to say.. I've been hesitating like a scared bunny because I feel like it will be one-sided.. and and"

"Os.." Ed smiles kindly at him, patient but still enough to stop the rambles.

"I.. I.."

"I can start a war or end one, I can give you the strength of heroes or leave you powerless, I might be snared with a glance, but no force can compel me to stay; What am I?"

Oswald had to think for a moment and slowly, almost cautiously leans in and kisses the other on his lips. The fear of being denied melting away as the Riddler's strong arms hold him and pull him closer to the warm body. Only when he pulls away for some air does he look into those eyes. 

"Love.."


End file.
